Recipes and news from the makers of Zest Recipe Manager

Hello! it’s been seriously icy in Sydney these past few days and coupled with nursing a cold, I am hibernating indoors and have cancelled all social engagements for today. Self imposed hibernation is sometimes very enjoyable amidst a busy life – indulging in normal household activities means more engagement with bub and not just trying to rush from one thing to the next, ticking off a never ending checklist of things to do. So in the blissful mundaneness of the day, I got to show Miss One how to take the laundry out of the washing machine and help me with the hanging on the clothes line. Her very important job was to hand me the pegs – this consisted of walking back and forth from the bucket, transporting one peg at a time. She is my hardworking little helper!

As I watch her toddle back inside with the bucket of pegs swinging on her arm, I am just filled with love, pride and amazement at just how quickly this little girl is learning and growing up. I just wish I could freeze moments like that and store them for the rainy days in life.

So what do we need to top up a day of domestic bliss? Some baked goods of course!

There’s a ripe pear in the fruit bowl, an open carton of buttermilk in the fridge that needs using and the pack of sultanas that Miss One has smuggled out of the pantry (yes she knows how to open it now and has recognised which packet holds the coveted treats). So I decided to make the little Miss a sweet but healthy muffin with these ingredients for our afternoon tea.

Muffins are such magical things – it feels like you can just pick a favourite combination of ingredients, add flour, some kind of fat (oil or butter), egg, some sweetness and voila! 9.5 times out of 10, it’s a tasty treat! And they are also quick to put together – so easy that I was able to whip up a batch during bub’s nap today which is like being in a Masterchef challenge, only you have no idea when George is going to say “time’s up, step away from your benches”!

These days with priority directed towards nourishing a growing child, my muffins have taken on a more healthy tone so oats and coconut oil make regular appearances and here they are again in today’s creations. The pear was prepared two ways for a reason, not just to make life complicated – 1) the grated pear to give the muffin its moistness and 2) the chunks for bursts of pear flavour (of course Miss One picked out all the chunks to eat first). And one more tip before I give you the recipe – soaking the sultanas in hot water makes them nice and plump.

These muffins took a little longer than I expected and I suspect it was because of the slightly wetter mixture with the grated pear but the result was a nice moist cake. It’s probably not as sweet as most muffins but I think it is sweet enough, especially with the bursts of sultanas and pear chunks. Also I don’t want little Miss getting used to anything too sweet but if you do have a particularly sweet tooth, I would increase it to 1/2 a cup of sugar.

Now, if you have 35 odd minutes – go and bake yourself some tasty moist treats!

It must be a bumper season for mandarins this winter in Australia: there are stacks of them everywhere, super cheap and super sweet. We’ve always had a plentiful supply on hand for Miss One, but the little tyke can be fickle: she loves them one day and not the next! So with a few of them piling up and an episode of MasterChef tickling my sweet tooth (the high tea episode, to be precise, so many beautiful treats…) I knew what I had to do. But truth be told: I’d never cooked with mandarins before! This recipe leans on the success of my Syrupy Orange and Cardamon Steamed Puddings, although made with juice in place of some of the egg and milk (to enhance the mandarin flavour).

Instead of syrup I paired these little beauties with the extra richness of chocolate, which is always a great foil for citrus. Originally I used straight dark chocolate, gently melted, and for a quick fix it worked fine. But for a real treat make up a batch of my Rich Chocolate Custard: the extra body both in texture and flavour is worth the effort!

It’s still cold in Sydney: so do yourself a favour and get some of these warming little treats on the go!

Steamed Mandarin Puddings with Rich Chocolate Custard

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 25 mins

Total time: 45 mins

Serves: 4

Warm, fragrant citrus puddings lathered in rich chocolate, what more could you ask for on a cold winter night?

Ingredients

125g butter, softened

75g caster sugar

2 eggs

125g self-raising flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

2 mandarins: zest finely grated and flesh juiced

For serving:

300ml rich chocolate custard

Instructions

Add the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and beat until light and creamy (a standing mixer is best if you have one).

Add the eggs, one at a time, combining each one well before adding the next.

Remove the bowl from the mixer. Sift in the flour and clove and add the mandarin zest. Fold to combine the dry ingredients into the batter.

At this point you should have a smooth but thick batter. For moist puddings you need to bring the batter to a dropping consistency (where it will readily slide off a tilted spoon under its own weight) by gradually adding mandarin juice. Add juice, a bit at a time, stirring well and testing the consistency until it is ready.

Grease four individual pudding cups with a little butter, then divide the batter evenly among the cups. Be sure to leave some room for expansion (at least 1cm). Even out the surface of the batter in each cup.

Cover the cups with a square of baking paper then a square of foil, pleated in the middle allow extra expansion room. Secure the coverings to the cups with twine.

Cook the puddings in a double steamer over boiling water until just cooked through, about 22-23 minutes. Remove from the steamer and allow to cool slightly before uncovering and turning out of the cups. You may need to carefully run a knife around the edge of the cup to dislodge the puddings.

The in-laws’ fig tree is in full season now and we are spoiled with an abundance of beautiful fresh fruit. I decided that I should use some in a cake for a change, and had all sorts of ideas lined up before I hit the fridge … and saw we had almost no butter (gasp!). Leaving aside how we could ever be so lax as to let this happen, the problem was compounded by the fact that this was on Good Friday and the shops were closed!

Luckily, just a few weeks before, I had baked my first ever yoghurt cake: my Zest Test of the London Bakes Lemony Yoghurt Cake. Yoghurt and olive oil to the rescue! My recipe, though heavily based on this original, is tweaked to be slightly less sweet and more structured so it can accommodate the figs. The idea to throw in a bit of rosemary came from this amazing looking Honey and Rosemary Upside Down Fig Cake on Delicious Everyday. So with thanks to my fellow bloggers for their ideas, this Fig and Rosemary Yoghurt cake was born!

The results are gorgeous. Just like the original Lemony version on London Bakes this cake is amazingly moist and moorish, and the hint of rosemary laced through works brilliantly. It’s one of those little additions that delights and surprises on first taste — people will be asking you what is in this cake! 🙂

Fig and Rosemary Yoghurt Cake

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 50 mins

Total time: 1 hour 5 mins

A moist and moorish cake topped with delicate figs and laced with a rosemary surprise.

Ingredients

175g caster sugar

2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves

125g almond meal

50g plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

180g greek or other natural yoghurt

120ml extra virgin olive oil

2 large eggs

For the top:

4 figs, trimmed and halved lengthwise

2 tablespoons brown sugar

To serve:

Fresh figs, quartered (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Grease and line a loaf tin with baking paper (I recommend using a piece large enough lay right across the tin hanging out two sides so you can lift the cake out).

Add the caster sugar and rosemary to a large mixing bowl. Mash together with your fingertips to infuse some rosemary flavour in the sugar.

Add the almond meal, flour, baking powder and salt and mix well.

Whisk the eggs and add them to the mixture along with the yogurt and olive oil. Stir until thoroughly combined.

Pour the batter into the lined loaf tin, then arrange the fig halves, cut side up, on top of the cake.

Bake for 30 minutes, then quickly remove from the oven to top each of the fig halves with a pinch of brown sugar before returning to bake until browned and cooked through, roughly another 20 minutes.

When done carefully remove the cake from the tin (it can stick a little, so run a knife along the edges) and cool on a wire rack for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Recipe

I don’t bake all that often (Jane certainly has that covered), and when it comes to cakes I’ve stuck to the pretty traditional butter, sugar, eggs and flour formula. But I’ve always been intrigued by yoghurt and olive oil based cakes, so when I came across this Lemony Yoghurt Cake recipe from London Bakes I stashed it away for later reference.

My opportunity came when Jane bought home a beautiful, weighty pomegranate with no plan to use it in mind. A little naughty, because this pom was imported from the US, but it was a stunner. (The season starts soon enough in Australia so you can hang in until then if you want to buy local.)

My Tweaks

I made a couple of tweaks to this recipe. The major one, no doubt, was turning it from a lemony cake into a limey one. Now I know this sounds terrible as a name, particularly to the English (sorry, London Bakes!) but I had a hunch the flavour would work well and stand out. Based on Kathryn’s tip on the original recipe I also increased the zest, using some lemon plus two limes (just check the name of this blog after all!).

My other tweak is pictured above: garnishing with a few crushed pistachios along with the recommended pomegranate. Certainly not necessary but I think it adds nice colour, flavour and texture!

Challenges and Tips

The recipe was clear and easy to put together, even easier than a more traditional cake. The batter is quite wet so easily spread into the tin. The only challenge I had was getting it out afterwards! I used a greased, non-stick tin and lined the bottom. Unfortunately, because the cake edges are quite sticky, one corner stuck and broke on removal! Next time I’ll use a better lining as you can see Kathryn does in her original post.

Verdict

Win. This cake came out super moist but not too heavy, laced with beautiful fragrant lime. It doesn’t rise too much and even sinks a little when it cools as Kathryn warns. It’s right on the edge of too moist I’d say, so I might try a little more flour next time just as an experiment. But the proof is in the eating and Jane and I (with a little help from Miss One) completely demolished this cake. It didn’t last long enough for any visitors to even see it, so it’s lucky we have photo evidence!

This new creation is inspired by one of our most popular recipes from last year, the Fragrant Orange Cake with Spiced Golden Syrup. As a winter dessert I’d been wanting to create a proper steamed pudding to get that beautifully soft yet moist texture. It does take a little more effort to prepare the pudding cups for steaming, but you just can’t get the same texture in a regular cake.

After playing with different approaches, I’ve finally settled on the combination of fragrant zest and punchy cardamom, steamed into perfect little puds each soaked with sticky orange syrup. I’ve made the recipe to serve four as you can manage this with a single large orange (and four pudding cups just fit into my double steamer!). This portion makes plenty of syrup to serve on the side so you can keep drenching that pudding as you eat! Add a dollop of cream if you like, but I’ve moderated the sugar such that these little beauties are perfect just as they come.

Syrupy Orange and Cardamom Steamed Puddings

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 25 mins

Total time: 55 mins

Serves: 4

The perfect comfort dessert for a winter night, you’ll be glowing with citrus warmth!

Ingredients

125g butter, softened

75g caster sugar

3 eggs

125g self-raising flour

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom

Zest of 1 large orange, finely grated

2-3 tablespoons milk

For the syrup:

160ml orange juice

120g caster sugar

Instructions

First you need to start the syrup. Finely grate the zest of your orange and set aside for later. Now juice the orange and strain 160ml into a small saucepan (to remove the pulp). (If you have less juice you can scale down the sugar in the next step.)

Add the 120g of caster sugar to the saucepan bring the mixture to a simmer over a medium heat, stirring to dissolve. Continue simmering for about 15 minutes to reduce to a thicker syrup. Cool small spoonfuls of syrup to test the thickness as it reduces. (Always keep an eye on a reducing syrup, as it reaches high enough heat it can boil over very quickly, if you see it frothing take it off the heat and check if it’s ready.)

While the syrup is reducing you can start your pudding batter. Add the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and beat until light and creamy (a standing mixer is best if you have one).

Add the eggs one at a time, combining each one well before adding the next.

Remove the bowl from the mixer. Sift in the flour and cardamom and add the orange zest. Fold to combine the dry ingredients into the batter.

At this point you should have a smooth batter, but it may still be a bit thick. For moist puddings you need to bring the batter to a dropping consistency (where it will readily slide off a tilted spoon under its own weight) by gradually adding milk. Add milk a spoonful at a time, stirring well and testing the consistency until it is ready.

Grease four individual pudding cups with a little butter, then add a tablespoon of orange syrup to each one. Divide the batter evenly among the cups but be sure to leave some room for expansion (at least 1cm). Even out the surface of the batter in each cup.

Cover the cups with a square of baking paper then a square of foil, pleated in the middle allow extra expansion room. Secure the coverings to the cups with twine.

Cook the puddings in a double steamer over boiling water until just cooked through, about 22-25 minutes. Remove from the steamer and allow to cool slightly before uncovering and turning out of the cups. You may need to carefully run a knife around the edge of the cup to dislodge the puddings.

Serve warm with extra syrup at the ready!

Notes

If you don’t have pudding cups then ramekins or even teacups can be used in their place. Keep in mind that cooking time will vary based on the shape of the cups, though!

As they say: necessity is the mother of muffins. (Something like that, anyway!) In this case Jane was hungry one morning and not inspired by the food at home, but was trapped inside thanks to pouring rain. Scouting around the kitchen she found two very ripe bananas and some buttermilk (left over from blueberry pancakes), and a new recipe was born!

These are not your classic muffins: for starters we use coconut oil instead of butter. A generous helping of grains and walnuts add texture while contributing good flavour. These two changes make for a relatively healthy treat: not totally guilt-free but much better than your average cake. The muffins also cook quickly, so are perfect if you’re in a rush with guests on the way!

I’ve always thought of golden syrup as something quite Australian, possibly due to it being a key ingredient in Anzac cookies. And who wouldn’t want to lay claim to something this rich, sticky and delicious? Actually, though, it is pretty widely spread around the world and especially the Commonwealth. In fact after a tip from a friend I’ve become quite partial to the version from long-standing British brand Tate & Lyle. The classic green tin yields a slightly lighter, more refined version of the syrup than we’re used to in Australia. It’s a great addition, in place of some sugar, to many steamed puddings and cakes. In this recipe I’ve taken a classic Madeira batter (with thanks to James Martin’s “The Collection”) and modified it to add an extra hit of orange and decadent soaking of spiced syrup.

Fragrant Orange Cake with Spiced Golden Syrup

Recipe Type: Dessert

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 50 mins

Sweet, fragrant and spicy, this cake demands to be eaten warm with sticky syrup drizzling down the sides.

Ingredients

175g butter, softened

125g caster sugar

3 eggs

250g self-raising flour, sifted

zest of 2 oranges

zest of 1/2 a lemon

4 tablespoons golden syrup

juice of 1 orange

8 whole cloves

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Grease and line a round 20cm cake tin with baking paper.

Heat a small saucepan over a low heat. Add the orange juice and golden syrup and warm to a very slow simmer.

Cream the butter and sugar in a standing mixer until pale.

Take the syrup off the heat, allowing it to cool slightly.

Mix the eggs into the creamed butter mixture one at a time, then mix in half of the orange syrup and all of the lemon and orange zest.

Reduce the speed of the mixer to fold the flour through the batter gently.

Spoon the batter into the greased cake tin, lightly spreading to even it out. Bake for around 30 minutes.

About 10 minutes before the cake is ready, return the remaining orange syrup to a low heat. Add the cloves and keep on a very slow simmer to infuse the spice flavour.

When the cake is done, remove it from the cake tin and stand on a wire rack to cool for a few minutes.

Move the cake to a serving plate. Remove the cloves from the syrup and pour over the top of the cake, using a spatula to spread it while it is still warm. Serve immediately!